Friday, April 30, 2010

The fine folks over at Peaches in Regalia led the way today with coverage of Libertarian Brandon Givens participation in a candidate forum last night sponsored by the Four Corners Tea Party way up in District 49 at the Mulberry Creek Community Center. The shindig was moderated by talk radio personality Martha Zoller who had total control over the course of the forum and the questions posed to the two candidates that managed to show up.

The biggest news to come out this event to the crew at Bludgeon & Skewer is the fact that the leading fundraiser in District 49, republican Butch Miller, could not appear because of a previously scheduled event. Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, right here in District 42, where leading fundraiser democrat Jason Carter couldn't attend the Libertarian Party of DeKalb County's debate for the same reason. So there you have it, republican Butch Miller and democrat Jason Carter have something in common. Disdain for their opponents and contempt for the public.

That kind of behavior seems to afflict candidates with big bankrolls, they dodge forums they don't sponsor and do not acknowledge the fact they have opponents on the ballot. With less than 2 weeks to go before the special elections in District 49 and District 42, there's only one scheduled forum that's going to be held and it ain't in district 49.

What can the voters of district 49 do about this? Simple, push the button for Libertarian Brandon Givens and send a Libertarian to the Georgia Senate!

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote for Libertarian Brandon Givens for State Senate 49!

Dr. Jim Sendelbach shares his memories and thoughts with the Georgia Libertarian Convention last Saturday. This will be Dr. Jim's second campaign carrying the standard of Liberty in a race that has seen a horde of republican locusts show up for the republican primary including John Oxendine's old campaign manager, Tim Echols.

What's in the water over at the Insurance Commission office? We've got the Ox running for Governor, the Ox's hand picked chick Maria Sheffield running in the Insurance Commissioner race and now his old campaign manager running for PSC 2. Looks like cronyism is alive and well in the great state of Georgia.

You can help put a stop to that by heading over to Dr. Jim's FaceBook page and volunteering for his campaign. Every little bit helps!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Things are heating up in the Special Election up in Gainesville as Libertarian Brandon Givens gets ready to debate republican Jimmy Norman and republican Butch Miller in a forum scheduled for the 29th of April at the Mulberry Creek Community Center in Flowery Branch. It's a first class shindig moderated by Martha Zoller and the format includes audience questions!

Here's the Facebook Page for additional info, check it out and be sure to be there to support Brandon.

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote for Libertarian Brandon Givens for State Senate District 49!

Here is Libertarian Candidate for Attorney General Don Smart in his own words. Don used to be a democrat but he has seen the light and joined up with the Libertarian Party to help bring meaningful change to Georgia in 2010. He's an experienced litigator, a 20 year Marine Corps Vet and still has his first 22 rifle from his youth.

Like all of our candidates this year, Don Smart gets it. Head over to his FaceBook page and fan the man up, send this speech to all your friends and volunteer with his campaign!

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote for Don Smart for Attorney General!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Kevin Cherry stepped up and declared for Agriculture Commissioner, filling a slot that was vacant and doing his part to push the Libertarian agenda over the goal line this fall. Like all of our candidates, Kevin has a clear vision of what he wants to get done. Help him make that vision a reality.

Be-Bop by his FaceBook page and fan the man up, then volunteer your time or treasure or both.

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote Kevin Cherry for Commissioner of Agriculture!

Rick Collum republican no report filed at the State Ethics CommissionSeth Harp republican 37K in the kittyRalph T. Hudgens republican 260K in the kittyJohn Mamalakis republican $8,800 bucks on hand. I feel ya John.Maria Sheffield republican 144K in the kittyMary Squires democrat 64K in the kitty

So there are now 7 republican's running worth a combined total of $549,200, the lone democrat Mary Squires with 64K, and of course, little old me. I proudly hold the anchor man position for lack of funding at the moment and as soon as I get done supporting Libertarian David Montané in his race for State Senate 42 here in Decatur, I'll see what can be done.

By tomorrow there should be another republican or two in the mix and hopefully at least one more democrat. Ain't qualifying fun!

Monday, April 26, 2010

This Insurance Commissioner race is just jam packed with people that want John Oxendine's old office and that state issued Crown Vic with the hide-a-ways. Here's my first campaign promise, the freakin' car goes back to motor pool so one of the arson investigators has a ride.

I'm still boning up on the ins an outs of this race and I'm pretty sure I'll be nailing my 14 points to the Statehouse door soon. OK, I won't actually nail them to the door, maybe I'll put up some yellow stickies and take a few pix and a FlipCam Vid. Also, If any of the readership works in the lobbying or insurance industries, feel free to get in touch. I have questions.

Rick Collum republican no report filed at the State Ethics CommissionSeth Harp republican 37K in the kittyRalph T. Hudgens republican 260K in the kittyJohn Mamalakis republican $8,800 bucks on hand. I feel ya John.Maria Sheffield republican 144K in the kittyMary Squires democrat 64K in the kitty

Libertarian Shane Bruce will be on the ballot for sure 0, nada, nuttin' in the kitty

If you drop by the SecStates website you'll notice my name is missing. That's because us Libertarians nominate by convention paid for out of our own pockets and so we'll file the entire slate late in June. As of right now, I'm the only Insurance Commish candidate that will appear on the ballot this fall. That'll change after the impending republican bloodbath and hopefully some democrat will give Mary a run for her money as well.

I want the readership to understand that the republican and democrat primaries are funded by the taxpayers of Georgia to the tune of a couple of million bucks. It rankles me that our opponents are so bold as to high-jack the public's purse for solely partisan purposes. Please keep this in mind when all the run-offs from the general election are being blamed on us Libertarians by these same politicians. We expect to hear that the run-off system is just to expensive, and something has to change.

How about letting the republicans and democrats foot the bill for their own freakin' primaries? That's change I can believe in.

Featured speakers at Saturday's Libertarian Convention were David Montané, currently running in the Special Election in State Senate District 42 and Brandon Givens, currently running in the Special Election in State Senate District 49. They're doing their part to keep the ideals of Liberty alive and we urge the readership to pitch in and help.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Libertarian Party of Georgia's annual convention is over as of yesterday and the big news is that the party has a candidate in every single state wide race this fall. I'm proud to be one of those candidates and here's the list:

We've got the facebook addresses listed in the Candidates block over on the sidebar or you can just click through from here. Head over and fan everybody up and see if one of the guys or gals merit your support. These are Libertarians and we all will run lean campaigns so we need your help. Here's a wish list from David Chastain that'll give you an idea of the magnitude of the work:

This is what happens when you turn into a Libertarian activist and start blogging and working on campaigns at the same time. Sooner or later you will hear the call and you will step forward. That happened to me yesterday at the Georgia Libertarian Party convention when I stepped up to the podium and made my bid to carry the standard of Liberty onto the field this fall in the Georgia Insurance Commissioners race.

Here is a video of my speech courtesy of the hardest working blogger in Georgia, Jeff Sexton, from SWGA Politics who was industrious enough to get it and all the other speeches up on YouTube in less than a day. Good work Jeff.

Like David Chastain says, the work now truly begins. I'll be fleshing out the campaign over the next few days and will have a lot more info for the readership about the sorry state of Insurance in Georgia once that process is complete. In the meantime, please blast off to the new born FaceBook page and toss some comments around.

Big Jim Galloway has a post running over at the Political Insider about yesterday's republican gubernatorial forum somewhere dangerously close to Casa De La Barnes and not a single mention of Libertarian John Monds!

We've fixed that error and invite the readership to add what ever additional gems that might be appropriate to the comment trail. But before you go, take a peek at the sidebar and if there are local pols running ads on it, give 'em a click! It's the fun and easy way to influence politics in Georgia right here and right now!

Here's a copy of the post:

Bludgeon & SkewerApril 25th, 201012:07 pm

Greetings All,

It’s fine Chamber of Commerce day here at the Secret Underground Libertarian Command Center (LCC) as the guys and gals recover from last nights Cigars and Brandy session that marked the end of the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s annual convention. We’ve managed to nominate and elect a full slate of candidates for this fall’s historic run with out dipping into the public’s purse and take no small delight in observing the back and forth between the warring factions of our republican brothers and sisters as they hash out which of their gubernatorial candidates will take the field against Libertarian John Monds this fall.

We have our preferences of course. Of the current field we think a match up between Libertarian John Monds, Nathan “Stinky” Deal and King Roy would provide the maximum contrast of choice for the voters of Georgia. There are months to go and we’ll just have to wait and see like everybody else. It’s comforting to know that the standard of Liberty will be carried this fall by a man of impeccable character and resolute conviction, a man named John Monds.

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote Libertarian John Monds for Governor!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Libertarian David Chastain just put up some pix of the recent event way down at Darton College that was also attended by Libertarian Candidate for Governor John Monds and US Senate Candidate Chuck Donovan. Nice to see the crew at work!

Libertarian David Montané recently took part in an innovative survey conducted by the fine folks over at Decatur News Online that will be published as a series from now until election day on the 11th of May. All four candidates were were asked to respond to a series of questions about the issues here in the 42nd State Senate district and their responses provide a lot of food for thought.

The first installment focuses on transportation, congestion and the ongoing MARTA debacle. Here's a few quotes:

Question: Do you support the current transportation legislation (which awaits Gov. Perdue's approval) for transportation taxing referendums in 12 state districts? Why or why not?

David Montané - LibertarianAt issue is whether to add another point to our 7% sales tax. Two goals are evident: a desire to reduce commute times and a wish for more public transportation.In my view, only gasoline taxes should support road projects. D.O.T. should prioritize road projects based on public safety. When the state spends tax funds to reduce commute times, commuters move further from work. The volume of traffic increases and the pace speeds up, but commute times stay the same.DeKalb and Fulton sales taxes already subsidize MARTA with a "penny tax", about $500 per household, to support this monopoly business. Sales taxes are regressive, so the poor pay a higher percentage of income for MARTA anyway!Yet MARTA still bleeds money, is unsafe, often behind schedule and must reduce bus routes. AmTrak is similar, costing the country $3 Billion this year alone. High-speed rail will be AmTrak on steroids!

Be sure to head over and check the drivel from Jason Carter and the rest of the field. Like we said before, David Montané gets it

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Our guy for Governor of Georgia, John Monds and our guy for US Senate, Chuck Donovan, got a little TV love in Albany after the recent debate down there. Thier sections of the interview is definitely a must see.

The Tin Hats are polished, the spaceship in the garage pix are lined up neatly in the photo album and Libertarians far and wide are preparing to descend on the Westin Hotel down by the airport to begin the festivities. If you haven't registered yet, please do so right away. The Libertarian tradition of just showing up at the door plays havoc with the pre-planning stuff, but if you're a die hard and refuse to change your ways, come on down anyway.

We've got a boat load of Candidates to hear from this year so expect the afternoon session to go a little long. And we're still hunting for candidates for Lt. Gov, Insurance Commissioner and Agriculture Commissioner so if you feel like stepping forward, Saturday is the day to do it!

Looks like the democrat party here in Georgia has succeeded in dredging up a candidate willing to face off against Libertarian Will Costa for Labor Commissioner after all. According to the fine folks over at Peaches in Regalia, former rep Terry Coleman has heard the siren call and is testing the waters, scrutinizing squirrel entrails and consulting with Madam Zelda in Decatur about entering the race. OK, they didn't mention the squirrel entrails or Madam Zelda but here at Bludgeon & Skewer we think Terry should give that a shot as well. Last we heard waters don't vote and Madam Zelda was pretty spot on in 2008, be advised she does not work for free but accepts all major credit cards, debit cards and cash. No checks.

We were hoping for a Labor Commish contest sans democrat to heighten the odds of Will Costa besting John Monds vote total in the 2008 PSC run against republican H. Doug Everett, but if it's gonna be a three way race, it's gonna be a three way race. Since there's one democrat hoping to cherry pick the Labor Commissioner slot, maybe there's two! After all republican Mark what's his name decided to horn in on Melvin Everson's action and contest the republican primary at the last minute, so maybe Terry will pick up a competitor as well.

That would be cool, both parties fighting a vicious, costly primary just to see who gets the nod to run in the fall against Libertarian Will Costa.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Can you believe it! Two back to back posts over at Big Jim Galloway's Political Insider to correct gross misinformation on the state of the race for Labor Commissioner and the US Senate. Plenty of talk about Melvin and Darryl and Mark but not peep about our guy, Will Costa. What can you say? We've corrected that factual problem and as always invite the readership to pile on... er, add to the commentary. But before you go, check and see if there's an ad for Karen Handel on the sidebar, if so, click it! It's the fun and easy way to influence politics in Georgia right here and right now!

Here's the breadcrumbs we've left in our wake:

Greetings All,

It’s a rare occasion to post here on consecutive days but the guys and gals over here at the Secret Underground Libertarian Command Center (LCC) are getting concerned that Mr. Galloway may be having some memory issues. The race for Labor Commissioner will be a three way affair with a republican of some complexion, a democrat of some complexion and Libertarian Will Costa who identifies as an American.

If you’d like to find out a bit more about Will, then visit his FaceBook page, fan the man up and if at all possible, volunteer some of your time and treasure for the cause of Liberty. You can hear Will Costa at the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s annual convention this weekend where he will be nominated for the post of Commissioner of Labor and voted onto our slate of candidates for this fall’s historic run.

Vote for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote for Libertarian Will Costa for Labor Commissioner!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Big Jim Galloway over at the Political Insider has a post up about Micheal Thurmond's entry into the US Senate race in Georgia and still can't remember basic history. Now he's crediting Jim Martin with causing the 2008 run off against Saxby Chambliss when any one with a moderate grasp of history knows it was Libertarian Allen Buckley who accomplished that dastardly deed. You can't have a run off in a two way race, just a winner and a loser.

We've left some bread crumbs and invite the readership to take the time to head over there and add some more gems to the pile, but before you do, check the adsense side bar and see if your favorite georgia politician has any ads up. If so, click 'em! It's the fun and easy way to influence politics in Georgia right here and right now!

Here's the post:

Greetings All,

The entrance of Micheal Thurmond into the democrat primary for Georgia's US Senate race is making the guys and gals here at the Secret Underground Libertarian Command Center get all misty eyed with remembrances of the US Senate race in 2008. Contrary to Mr. Galloway's opinion, democrat Jim Martin did not cause the run-off in 2008, he simply benefited from it. Libertarian Allen Buckley's presence on the ticket prevented good ol' Saxby from winning the race clean and the 127,000 Georgian's who cast their ballots for liberty that day went to sleep that night knowing they had done the right thing.

The stew is mixing up nicely for this cycle. The state and national democrat machine has ushered in Mr Thurmond as the candidate of preference while the snubbing their lone declared candidate, RJ Hadley. Will Mr Hadley withdraw or will there be a democrat primary fight? Additionally, the postings on the various and sundry political blogs here in Georgia of a conservative nature indicate that many conservatives would like to see Senator Isakson challenged as well. We're all for that!

Here's a bold prediction for this years US Senate race. Libertarian Chuck Donovan will follow in the footsteps of Allen Buckley and call our esteemed sitting Senator out on a variety of issues during this campaign cycle. He will also garner enough support to force a run-off in this election by preventing republican Johnny Isakson from getting to 50% +1, just like 2008. And maybe do even better than that.

A great big welcome aboard to Libertarian James Sendlebach and Libertarian Don Smart and congratulations for signing up to carry the banner of Liberty this fall in Georgia. As revealed in the Georgia Libertarian Online, 19 Apr 10 issue, these two gentlemen are the latest of our statewide candidates to declare for office.

Mr. Sendlebach will run for the Public Service Commission District 2 seat currently held by republican Bobby Baker who has held that seat since the dark ages back in 1992. Bobby's a pro but currently is sitting on only $13K in the campaign kitty as opposed to the $250K he raised and spent way back in 2006. Democrat Ken Moffit is seeking the same seat but has yet to file a report with the State Ethics Commission. This race is starting to look a lot like the Labor Commissioner contest!

Libertarian Attorney Don Smart will lock horns with which ever republican and democrat survives their primary fight and wins a place on the ballot. Don will be on the ballot as of 24 April 2010 after nominating closes at the Libertarian Convention and will begin campaigning as soon as the dust settles.

So the last big questions for those of us here in Liberty land is who will round out this fall's ticket? There are rumors we have a Insurance Commissioner Candidate as well as a pick for Lt Governor and are still looking for a suitable Agriculture Commissioner. The suspense is killing us here at Bludgeon & Skewer, but we'll just have to wait till the convention

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The big news this week as that current Commissioner of Labor, democrat Michael Thurmond, has agreed to be a sacrificial lamb for the democrat side of the house this fall in Georgia. Rumors are flying all over the state that the DC democrat cabal has promised him wads of cash and a secure sinecure when he loses to incumbent US Senator Johnny Isakson in November. Why did the state democrat party wait until the last minute to throw poor old Michael Thurmond to the wolves? Probably because the pollsters and the analysts and the donors are convinced that Roy Barnes needs a black man on the ticket for US Senate to try to rally the democrat urban base to the polls this fall. And he does.

So Mike's gonna convert the $40K sitting in his campaign coffers as of the 31 MAR 10 filing to the new effort to be a US Senator, theoretically cash will flow in from all over hell and gone and somehow he'll be sitting at parity with Isakson come September. That means he's gonna need about $6-7 Million Dollars and there just ain't that kind of money sitting still in Georgia.

The tragic thing about this machine democrat move is that they have a guy named RJ Hadley out of Rockdale County who has declared his intentions and has been doing the grunt work. Lots of grunt work, the kind of grunt work that wins elections. Unfortunately, RJ doesn't seem to be able to raise money and we Libertarians can really understand that. We suck at fundraising too.

But that's not the point of this particular post. With Micheal out of the race there are only two candidates in the running for the Commissioner of Labor. Republican Melvin Everson and Libertarian Will Costa. It's almost certain that the state democrat party will find some hack someplace to throw into that race by the filing deadline, but then again, they couldn't fill the US Senate seat until just now. So from a strategic point of view, having a republican and a Libertarian on the ballot for Labor Commissioner this fall is a godsend.

How does Melvin stack up to Will Costa money wise? Melvin has a shade over $9,600 in the campaign kitty and Will has yet to post any numbers. The filing fee alone for Labor Commissioner is $3,647.11 or about a third of the cash Melvin has on hand as of 31 MAR 10. The killer joke to us over here in Liberty Land is that republican and democrat candidates have to pay the qualifying fee to their state parties. What a Hoot! Us Libertarians might not be able to shower our candidates with cash for the campaign, but we will pay their freakin' filing fees.

So in essence this Labor Commissioner's race will start in a dead-heat. That's not the norm for Libertarians in any race so this should be interesting all the way to the finish, especially if there is no democrat on the ballot. Does anyone remember the 2008 PSC race with John Monds? Repeat time!

So we'd like the readership to do a few simple things. First head over to Will Costa's FaceBook Fan Page and fan the man up. Then if you're inclined, contact his campaign and volunteer!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Here's the latest essay over at Libertarian Candidate for US Senate Chuck Donovan's campaign website. After you read it head over there and volunteer!

Central Control of Natural and Manmade Disasters“Government is a disaster masquerading as its own cure.” - L. Neil Smith

Dr. Richard Ebeling wrote an excellent article in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti. Dr Ebeling is the former president of the Foundation for Economic Education, (www.fee.org), of which I am a proud member. His article focuses on a humane, principled, and moral approach to a long-term solution for Haiti and other areas with similar economic conditions. His solutions are right along the lines of what true Libertarians understand completely.

“What the people of Haiti need are the individual liberty and secure property rights in an open, free market that can draw upon the creative potentials of the people themselves. No bureaucrats or politicians in either Washington, DC, or in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince possess a fraction of the knowledge about what needs to be done — how, where or when, and for whom — that is known by the 10 million Haitian people, themselves.

Yes, they can use all the assistance that any and all men of good will may choose to provide right now, but the recovery that can begin "tomorrow" can only come about by releasing the creative energy and abilities of the Haitian people. And that means that their government and other governments need to get out of the way and not make a market-based recovery process more difficult than it has to be.”

Dr. Ebeling points out the inefficiency and the danger of a government “rescue” for Haiti.

“Private charitable agencies have historically shown themselves to have a greater degree of flexibility, creativity, and adaptability to handle these types of emergencies than governments in the context of the conditions in the affected area.

But besides that, governments — however well intentioned and helpful their relief aid may be for victims of these disasters — often start thinking "bigger thoughts" about the need and desirability of a more permanent political helping hand in the nation affected.”

You should have no problem thinking of examples of the kind of thing Dr. Ebeling is talking about. Earlier this year, I also wrote about the typical creep of government towards “…a more permanent political helping hand…” on my issues page:

“Government always follows a similar pattern of reducing your freedoms and extending its tyranny. It steps in to “help”, always with good intention. However, because of its inherent limitations, government’s action always fails at some level. What should the government do then? Should it stop interfering and remove itself form the situation, or should it expand to fix the new problem? Government sees itself as the necessary solution and rushes in to fix the new problem. More unintended consequences result that in turn require further interference. Eventually, the government decides it “must” fully take over. This is the pattern governments have followed again and again throughout history. In the end, the only escape from such a situation is revolution. History has no shortage of examples, and the United States is no exception to the rule.” – Chuck Donovan

I believe the best quote from Dr. Ebeling’s article is this:

“All real and lasting change has to come from within individuals, themselves, and through them for their nation as a whole.”

People who are in love with government always see government as the best and brightest solution to everything. Nothing could be more wrong. When we turn away from cheerleading for Big Brother, we will see how much greater the strength of the individuals around us really is. Only then will real solutions be put into place in Haiti and all the other places where they are so desperately needed.

The mission is freedom.

The vision is now.

Below is Dr. Ebeling’s checklist for economic reform, something that would work well in the United States as well – if only we would try it.

Excerpted from: Real Economic Reform for a Hurting Haiti

Mises Daily: Monday, January 18, 2010 by Richard M. Ebeling

http://mises.org/daily/4035

For it's long-term improvement, Haiti needs what Adam Smith, in his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, called a "System of Natural Liberty":

Secure and defined private-property rights for all citizens that are recognized and enforced by the police and the legal system.

Secure and respected civil liberties that include freedom of speech, the press, and association — with freedom of association including the right of each individual to open and operate businesses, and peacefully compete in any type of enterprise without restrictive government regulation, licensing, or controls.

Government activities greatly limited to those basic but essential functions of recognizing and protecting the right of each individual to his life, liberty, and honestly acquired property. This includes a system of impartial rule of law with no political favors or privileges for some at the expense and disadvantage of others.

Low, transparent, and predictable taxes to fund those limited governmental activities, with no fiscal bias detrimental to savings, investment, and capital formation, which are necessary ingredients for sustainable rising standards of living in the future.

A stable and non-inflationary monetary system.

Freedom of trade, with no tariffs, quotas, or other regulatory restrictions on imports and exports. There also needs to be a positive attitude toward market-based foreign investments in the Haitian economy.

No politics of envy against "business" and the entrepreneurially successful, since it is private enterprise and creative and risk-taking businessmen in any society who are the "human engines" for growth, innovation, and competitive coordination of the economy.

Richard Ebeling teaches economics at Northwood University. He is former president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute. He and his wife, Anna, live in Midland, Michigan, with their chocolate Labrador, Ludwig von Mises IV. Send him mail. See Richard M. Ebeling's

This is a shorter version of a message to a friend who's been a trooper in advancing the "ideals" of the Republican Party. I share this abridged version in the hopes of provoking a little introspective thought. - DC

It appears your premise is that the GOP is a party of the individual and should have a monopoly on public policy. This is the problem with politics. The GOP needs to split apart and America needs multiple political parties that offer REAL choices. Lobbyists and major campaign contributors (Big Money) have greater influence over elected officials than voters. The institutionalized myth of a "two-party system" is emblematic of "divide and conquer" in that the Big Money has divided and conquered the majority into two major groups of voters . Should voters successfully establish more than three active, national parties, Big Money should be divided and conquered.

Our elected representatives from the Georgia Republican Party are no better than the iconic Urban Welfare Queen, with multiple kids, food stamps, welfare checks and free school lunches. She is doing what she can to bring in her share of Federal Money. Let's call these Gold Dome Demagogues Republican Welfare Cows (a female elephant is a cow). After all, taxing hospital beds is just a way to bring more Federal dollars into the state. But this attitude has been there all along - just never exhibited so concisely.

My study of Republican history finds a party that from the beginning never cared for individual freedom. Its leaders killed Indians to condemn land for transcontinental railroads, supporting mercantilism. It is a party that honors a president that suspended habeas corpus, denied due process to his jailed critics and mounted a war to countermand the secession clause of the Constitution. Why? Because Republicans believed in government monopolies and not free markets. Republicans have indicated by public policy that they prefer managed economies.

As long as folks focus on GOP reform and not real political reform, you will continue to see the operatives of statism capturing the power they crave from an ignorant constituency. Their quests do not benefit the average American. Rather, the average American is their useful tool, craving more government benefits in exchange for liberty.

The economy is getting ready to go over the edge. This will lead to more fear and anger that will be the driving emotions influencing voters in the elections. A GOP majority will be no better. Our Georgia Legislature has shown us what to expect of a Congress similarly configured. So, where is the hope?

I know I am ranting, but I want a legacy of liberty for my children and grand children, not a freedom that changes daily due to the political whims of a relative few.

I value your friendship and respect, and believe your heart is in the right place. However, after years of standing on the sidelines and observing the actions of the Democrats and Republicans, with their empty promises and underwhelming results, I have to speak up occasionally. And I keep hoping others will share my concern.

OK, not all the videos, we got about of an hour stuff all told. Here's the quick and easy stuff from the FlipCam. This section of the debate was after the Sustainability question was posed and features Ton Stubbs (D) responses to David Montané's proposal to bring back the Decatur Water Works.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

There's not much more fun to be had than to dig around in candidate financial disclosure forms over at the State Ethics Commission Website. They are chock-a-block full of interesting items because it's all about the money. Who gave it, where they live, who got paid and how although not necessarily for what and how much came in versus how much went out. Considering the importance attached to a candidates financial standings by the traditional media as well as the blog-o-sphere, here at Bludgeon & Skewer we've decided to do our dead level best to provide the readership with a throughly slanted investigation of the latest info on the Carter Campaign.

For you do-it-yourselfers, the place to start is here. For the rest of you slackers here's a list of tasty tidbits gleaned from the Summary report:

Jason Carter is a prodigious fundraiser, he's brought in $220,000 for this race since declaring back in December. It's got to be a Georgia State record for a Special Election, hell, it may be a state record for a regular Senate election and he's not done yet.

Jason can also spend the cash, he's dropped $83,000 which more that his opponents have raised. The question is, what's the moola being spent on? At a $1.51 a pop there aren't that many Jason yard signs out there.

Bottom line: The Carter campaign is sitting on $136,000 which is plenty for the GOTV effort as well as a respectable amount of walking around money.

The Carter Campaign has a total of 479 donors that made the big time last quarter. These are the cats that donated over $101 and so have their own special place on the report in order to comply with regulations.

Of the 479 major donors, 55 of them list Decatur as the address of record. That's an amazing 12-13% of the major donor base residing or at least working in the district. Yeah there's a bunch of Atlanta Zip codes over on the west side of the district, but we decided to just look for Decatur addresses. Proper slant for slant's sake.

There are 161 attorneys listed on the major donor form out of 479 major donors for the last quarter. That's right at 32% of his donor base. We didn't count the lawyers because there are just few of them and you never want to mix lawyers with attorneys.

There are 38 major donors that threw $1,000 into the pot, one major donor that tossed in $1,500 and 12 guys or gals that threw down $2,400 each. Major Major Donor total slice is $68,300. So his NBFF's account for 47-48% of the funding pulled in (138K) and are about 7-8% of the major donor base. Whose phone calls do you think Jason takes?

Jason is doing 'bidness' with the brightest minds in Birmingham Ala-damn-bama. World renowned Anzalone Liszt Research. Inc has pulled about $32,000 out of Jason's warchest for polling operations and you would suppose a little opposition research as well. The reality is that these guys are heavy hitters, big artillery and major league successes, just look at this quote from thier front page:

Anzalone Liszt had a great 2008! We helped deliver the crucial Southern states of Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia to President Barack Obama. For the second straight cycle we helped defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator by electing Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Additionally our firm helped protect 14 Democratic congressional incumbents, flip two Republican open seats (AL-02 / IL-11) and defeat two Republican incumbents (NV-03 / NC-08). We helped elect statewide candidates in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and West Virginia and helped sustain Democratic majorities in the Illinois, North Carolina, and Colorado State Senates. Congratulations to all our winners!

They're like President Obama's Pizza delivery guys! Just order up a state and tip the driver when they deliver. The sad part is that $32K won't get you on the front page of their website. You gotta click through three different levels to find current customer Jason and his name isn't linked back to his campaign! Outrageous!

Jason's taking care of the staff as well, the Campaign Finance Director collected a cool $7,500 for the quarter as well as a couple of hundred bucks for stamps and stuff. That sounds like a lot of money but it's only 30K a year and the job ain't gonna last a year. We never sweat stuff like that over here in Liberty Land because we don't pay nobody nothing. Work Free or Walk!

The guys and gals down at the Influence Factory in Atlanta copped $16,848 for whatever services they provided. Presumably influencing stuff.

So Jason's spent $56K out of $83K on pollsters, money managers and influence peddlers. I'm sure the rest was for coffee and doughnuts for his army of volunteer door to door canvassers, phone bank operators and yard sign installers. Or not.

So that's todays glance at the Carter Campaign Finance reports over at the State Ethics Commission website. Be sure to drop back by as we will looking at them again in the future!

I read Kathy Cox’s letter to the editor the other day about her disappointment in not receiving the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant monies. I find it ridiculous that the DOE would even waste its time on applying when here in Georgia , we have bigger fish to fry. The money is 400 million dollars. That’s a lot; however, the mandates that come with the 400 million dollars will exceed the grant funding that we would receive! Georgia is dead last in graduation rates according to edreform.com, roughly the same as it was when the Reagan Administration published “A Nation at Risk” in the 1980s. Since that time, and especially since Kathy Cox has been our State School Superintendent, more and more money has been funneled into our schools, yet we see no improvement. We have students who can’t pass basic skills tests, schools that cheat to earn more funds, college freshmen who can’t keep the HOPE scholarship (60% lose the HOPE their first year at college). We have teachers with huge classes, teachers who are unable to teach because of all of the mandates that are imposed and tests that are scheduled.

I predict that with the 400 million dollars will come more and more onerous positions to ensure that the money is “adequately spent”, and none of it will actually get to the students in the classrooms. This is another “bone” tossed out to appease the public. All this money will do is create positions that do not have any direct contact with students.

Kathy Cox, how about doing your job instead of pandering to politicians in DC? Washington can keep the money and the mandates that come with it. For that matter, why not allow schools to address the needs of their individual communities? That is when you will see improvement.

The first DeKalb county Libertarian sponsored debate has come and gone. Turn out was pleasantly heavily Libertarian and while it wasn't SRO, there was a good crowd in the room. We're happy to report that no chairs were thrown, no glass was broken and every one in the room was respectful of the candidates, at least until the last of the official questions were posed.

Libertarian candidate David Montané and Democrat Candidate Tom Stubbs expressed their positions on the main topics of the evening, The Death Penalty, Medical Marijuana/Decriminalization and and equal rights for all Georgians. Fire works occurred on the last official question about the constitutionality of the recently passed Obamacare legislation. The rebuttal phase lasted forever with a lot of spontaneous input from the crowd, it was getting a bit edgy but smoothed out nicely towards the end.

The two other candidates in the race, democrat Jason Carter and independent Steve Patrick were unable to attend due to schedule conflicts. They missed an excellent opportunity.

We're still in the process of compiling the video and as soon as we figure out how to get it over to the Bludgeon & Skewer YouTube Channel, it'll be ready for your viewing pleasure.

Once again, thanks to Dave Kell at inDecatur blog for stopping by and putting together that snazzy photo.

Libertarian Taylor Bryant will speak at the Tax Day Tea Party in Augusta on April 15th. Taylor carried the banner of Liberty in the recent special election for Augusta's State Senate District 22 at the first of the year and polled over 9% of the votes cast. An outstanding performance that advanced the cause of Liberty and led to a run off to decide the election.

The Tax Day Tea Party is an Augusta event sponsored by Revolution Radio 1230AM host Tony Powers and a slew of other Liberty minded activists to make sure that the voice of the people gets heard. Taylor will be addressing the crowd between 5:00PM and 8:00PM along with other scheduled speakers, so be sure to get there early and join in the fun.

These are the questions that will be posed tonight at the DeKalb LP sponsored debate for the special election in State Senate District 42. The debate will be held at the Famous Pub in the Toco Hills shopping center and will start as close to 7:00PM as possible. The venue for the event seats about 60 people so it would be wise to show up a little early. If you have the opportunity to attend, be there!

The candidate slate will feature Tom Stubbs (D) and David Montané (L). Jason Carter (D) has a previously scheduled event as does Steve Patrick (I) and neither candidate will be in attendance. Perhaps another debate will be scheduled before the 11th of May that all the candidates can attend. Perhaps not.

The format will allow each candidate to make some short introductory remarks and we will then proceed to the questions listed below. The question will be posed, each candidate will respond and a short period for rebuttal will follow the responses. Then on to the next question. When we're done with the the published questions and if there is time, we intend to take several questions from members of the audience. Once that's done, the candidates will make their closing remarks and then it's off to the bar for a beer and more politicking.

Here are tonights questions:

1. Whats your position on the Death Penalty?

2. Many District 42 voters are concerned about sustainability. How would you address these concerns?

3. So Far, 14 out of 50 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana. What is your position on this issue?

4. There is a trend in District 42 for the creation of community gardens and backyard chicken coops. Is it the role of the state to interfere with this?

5. Another hot topic for the voters of District 42 is equal protection and equal rights for all Georgia citizens under Georgia law. What would you do as a State Senator to address these concerns?

6. Does the federal government under our constitution have the authority to force a citizen into a contract with a private company?

In addition to these questions there will be several speed rounds where the candidates will be asked to pick between two choices, for example Color or black and white, Big Mac or Whopper and so on.

We hope the event will be informative and allow the voters of District 42 an opportunity to begin to make their decisions on who to cast their ballots for on the 11th of May.

Monday, April 12, 2010

There are only 12 days left until the Georgia Libertarian Party Convention starts at the Westin Hotel at 4736 Best Road by the Airport so it's time to get registered! Head over to the Georgia LP's registration page and plunk down the money to make sure you have your say on 24 APR 10 on the direction our party will take for the next year.

Remember that we'll be electing various and sundry administrative positions within the party like Chair, Vice Chair, district reps and others as well as voting on our slate of state wide candidates for the fall. It's your chance to hear first hand from US Senate Candidate Chuck Donovan, Gubernatorial Candidate John Monds, SecState Candidate David Chastain, Labor Commissioner Candidate Will Costa, Superintendent of Schools Candidate Kira Willis as well as State Senate Candidates David Montané and Brandon Givens.

It'll be a fine day for Liberty and it is critical that every Libertarian in Georgia makes an effort to attend. See you there!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The third installment of the FaceBook Fan Page Counter is hot off the presses and some pretty substantial gains were noted. Some pretty substantial howls of disappointment are expected as well as we start shearing off some of less competative candidates in democrat and republican land because they just aren't gonna be there after the primary.

That's the new numbers for this week, the leading Libertarian is Will Costa with a net gain of 44 Fans over last week and he now has more fans that Melvin does! The largest overall surge was by Libertarian Brandon Givens with 89 Fans but his page has only been up a little over a week. Drop back by next week for the latest update of the FaceBook Fan Page Counter!

Here's another video from the Brandon Givens campaign. If you want to see them all at one time then head over to the Brandon Givens Channel at YouTube HQ. While you're there be sure to rate them, toss in a comment or two and then volunteer to to help the man out!

You get back from a few days off up in North Georgia riding dirt bikes, fishing and prowling local pawn shops for really good deals on long guns and Viola! There's a teapot tempest brewing over democrat candidate Jason Carter's refusal to join the Libertarian Debate scheduled for this Tuesday night at the Famous Pub in Toco Hills. It seems that not only did he not know about the debate, but he has a previously scheduled meet and greet over in Johnson Hills. And he has to wash his hair too.

We've talked about this debate here at Bludgeon & Skewer several times over the last few months, like here and here, but just because we talked about it doesn't really mean anything as the readership is quite small and most definitely Libertarian.

So the bottom line is that two of the four candidates for the State Senate seat in District 42 will be in attendance at Tuesday night's event. Democrat Tom Stubbs and Libertarian David Montané will be there and we invite all the denizens and citizens of the 42nd to attend the very first debate of this special election cycle.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Morgan county business man Ray Boyd just dropped a 20KT backpack nuke into the middle of the republican primary for Governor today. OK, no nuke, but 2 Million bucks is 2 Million bucks. And it's his money, not the filthy lucre of a bunch of lobbyists intent on getting all their money back with a hefty 2000% markup.

2010 is indeed the year of change. According to Big Jim Galloway over at the Political Insider, Ray has just had it with the normal ebb and flow of republican politics in Georgia and decided to do something about it. 2 Million bucks worth of something.

Will Ray's sudden entrance in the race cause any of the lower tier candidates to fold their tents and move on? Will the "leading" candidates be forced to recalibrate and get ready for a squeaky clean novice who's already called them all on the carpet? Are the opposition researchers already digging through courthouse records to find something, anything that could put Ray in a bad light? Hell Yes.

The only thing that would have made the events of the day better is if Mr. Boyd had declared for the Lt Gov as a Libertarian, we're still looking for a suitable candidate for that slot and he would have been a fine addition to the team for the run this fall. So if things don't work out over there in republican land, give us a call Ray, there's plenty of work to do for Liberty.

Looks like SecState Brian Kemp is looking for more gravitas in the 2010 election cycle by putting out the brand spanking new "Stop Voter Fraud" website over at the SecState's cyber shop. It's refreshing that the citizens of Georgia are encouraged to scout around for possible voter fraud and send their suspicious activity reports in for additional analysis by the infamous SecState IG office. The same office that screwed over Laura Gallegos and Jeff Rayno evidently is looking for more opportunities to repeat the process on a new batch of Georgians.

The real question is what is the SecState doing about the Diebold Menace? Where's the brand spanking new website detailing all the changes that should be made so that the citizens of Georgia have confidence that their votes will actually be counted? Where's the freakin' beef?

It's time for Georgian's to make some changes and the best change that could be made at the SecState's office is to elect Libertarian David Chastain this fall.

We absolutely love acronyms over hear at Bludgeon & Skewer and this new video from Libertarian Brandon Givens campaign is chock-a-block full of them. Political Party Positive Attitude Delusional Disorder (PPPADD) is a real corker!

Be sure to head over to YouTube and watch all the Brandon Givens videos and then get busy helping out his campaign with your time or talent or treasure!

Monday, April 5, 2010

It's time to take a look-see at the State Ethics Commission website to see which of the current gaggle of Statewide Candidates in Georgia have seen fit to post their new and improved fund raising numbers for the last quarter. Short answer, not many.

Here at Bludgeon & Skewer we like looking wistfully at the enormous campaign coffers of some of our republican and democrat opponents and spend a little time speculating about what we could get done with that kind of money. We might even win some freakin' elections! Like the old saying goes, wish in one hand.....

So here's the latest info from the State Ethics Commission website on the latest campaign reports. We only looked at races that have an announced Libertarian Candidate so no info on Lt Gov, AG, PSC etc. Also no info on the US Senate race as the Ethics Commission does not have purview in that contest.

Governor of Georgia

John Monds (L) No update $1,423.13 as of 31 DEC 09

John Oxendine (R) No update 2.2 Million as of 31 DEC 09

Nathan Deal (R) No update 940K as of 31 DEC 09

Karen Handel (R) No update 439K as of 31 DEC 09

Eric Johnson (R) No update 1.3 Million as of 31 DEC 09

James Austin Scott (R) No update 159K as of 31 DEC 09

Ray McBerry (R) UPDATED! 17K on 31 DEC 09 to 27K as of 31 MAR 10 +10K

Jeff Chapman (R) No update 17K as of 31 DEC 09

Roy Barnes (D) No Update 2.2 million as of 31 DEC 09

Thurbert Barker (D) No update 874K as of 31 DEC 09

Dubose Porter (D) No update 303K as of 31 DEC 09

David Poythress (D) No update 264K as of 31 DEC 09

The amount of Money sloshing around in this race 6.8 Million dollars.

Secretary of State

David Chastain (L) No report filed

Gary Horlacher (D) No update 266K as of 31 DEC 09

Gail Bruckner (D) No update 219K as of 31 DEC 09

Angela Moore (D) No update 11K as of 31 DEC 09

Michael Mills (D) No update $304.99 as of 31 DEC 09

Darryl Hicks (D) No reports filed

Doug McGinnitie (R) No update 704K as of 31 DEC 09

Brian Kemp (R) No update 243K as of 31 DEC 09

The amount of money attempting to slosh in this race 1.4 Million dollars.

Commissioner of Labor

Will Costa (L) No report filed

Melvin Everson (R) UPDATED 21K as of 31 DEC 09 down to 10K as of 31 MAR 10 -11K

There's always a lot of speculation about fund raising numbers as the punditry class has to have something to write about. Most of the time it's focused on divining the future based on a candidates ability to out raise opponents but this time around to only lesson to be learned is that the news ain't so good for any of them. If it was, there would have been strategic leaks, rumors and much innuendo about the success of this candidate or that candidate and lots and lots of "I told you so".

Bottom Line. Ain't none of them made any money.

That's good news for Liberty as their conventional campaigns struggle to feed the media monsters that conventional campaigns depend on to move and shape "public" opinion and win elections for machine democrats and machine republicans. And the pickings are only gonna get leaner as the cycle progresses and our republican and democrat brothers and sisters spend themselves into oblivion to find out who's going to win their primaries.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Here's the first update for the Facebook project wherein we look at the number of fans our local politicians have on their respective FaceBook sites. There was some controversy from last weeks initial post because all of the candidates were not included and that controversy will extend into this weeks post because many still aren't. C'est La.

So there you have it, some changes from last week, no declines noted and the winner of the most new fans for a Libertarian Candidate is US Senate candidate Chuck Donovan with a whopping 104 new Fans! Way to go Chuck!

Stop back by next week and see how the informal FaceBook Fan Page Counter (FFPC) is doing for your candidate, and while you're here be sure to visit our sponsors over on the Adsense bar. If you see and ad for a politician you really don't like, go ahead and click it! It's the fun and easy way to influence politics in Georgia right here and right now!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Libertarian Brandon Givens is making local news with his announcement to run for State Senate District 49 seat vacated by Ex Senator Lee Hawkins. Gainesville Times reporter Melissa Weinman interviewed Brandon on March 29 and provides the following quote:

Givens said he is the only Libertarian that plans to run for the Senate seat in the special election.

“What I want to bring to the forefront of the debate is reasonableness,” said Givens, who is a teacher. “I believe the state Capitol needs more teachers there that can provide proper guidance.”

Brandon has also recieved coverage on That's Just Peachy, a Georgia News aggregation site, the Georgia LP website and The Independent Political Report. Getting coverage is great but getting volunteers is better, Brandon has a huge amount of work do to between now and the 11th of May and really needs your help at this initial start up phase.

So if you're in the 49th State Senate District and you're not satisfied with the way things have been, this is your opportunity to work for change. Volunteer with Brandon Given's campaign and help make Georgia a better place.

Friday, April 2, 2010

The state convention is bearing down on Georgia Libertarians like a Freedom Tsunami as the 24th of April draws ever closer. This raucous annual event will see Libertarians from all over Georgia gathering in one place for one day to get our slate of statewide candidates selected and elected, pick the Chair, Vice Chair, assorted district reps, Ex Con members and other leadership and support positions within the party.

We'll be dealing with administrative ash and trash in the morning session and listening to leading Libertarian lights like US Senate Candidate Chuck Donovan and Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate John Monds during the afternoon session. We'll also be hearing from State Senate Candidates David Montané and Brandon Givens who will be knee deep in their respective contests by then as well as Libertarian Taylor Bryant of State Senate District 22 fame. It's going to be a very busy convention and if you're thinking about joining us, stop thinking and get to doing.

The Liberty Train is pulling out of the station on April 24th, jump on board and take it for test ride this fall!